On Thursday night in Steinbach, the Pistons struck early and often on route to a 7-1 victory over the Virden Oil Capitals in game 5 of the MJHL Turnbull Cup Finals and now lead the series 3-2.

It was just the start the Pistons wanted, as just 37 seconds into the game, Drew Worrad (5) cashed in on a pass from Bradley Schoonbaert to make it 1-0 Steinbach. Austin Heidemann also had an assist on the opening goal.

Only 11 seconds later, Braden Purtill buried a backhand shot after the puck was dumped in and came off the end boards and came back out in front to the Captain. The unassisted goal was Purtill's 6th of the playoffs. 

The scoring in the first wasn't done. Worrad was sent in alone on a breakaway but was hooked up enough to earn a penalty shot. It's the second time the Pistons have had a penalty shot in the finals and they were 0-1.

Not anymore.

Worrad went in and made a nice move before sliding home his second of the night and 6th of the playoffs, giving the Pistons a 3-0 lead before the midway point of the period.

The Oil Capitals began to unravel a bit and cut a pretty steady stream to the penalty box. Steinbach was unable to capitalize any further and took a comfortable 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

Maybe the Pistons were a little too comfortable to start the second period. The Oil Capitals came out and started to push, trying to get something going in the way of offence. 

While shorthanded, Kolten Kanaski stole the puck at the Virden blueline and went in all alone and scored to cut the lead to 3-1.

More pressure from the Oil Caps earned them a power play with a chance to get to within a single goal and Virden was inches away from getting that all important goal.

The only problem? Matthew Thiessen.

As a puck that was directed towards the net hit a body in front and fell towards the side of the Pistons net, it appeared that the Oil Caps had a wide-open cage with Thiessen caught out of position after the deflection. Thiessen's never say quit attitude was on full display, as he reached back and absolutely robbed Tyler Kirkup with a beautiful goal-line glove save to keep it 3-1 Steinbach. 

That save was the wakeup call the Pistons needed.

After a sluggish start to the second, the offence awoke when while on a delayed penalty call upcoming against Virden, Tyson McConnell turned and fired a puck off an Oil Caps skate and in for his first of the playoffs, restoring Steinbach's three-goal lead, 4-1. Mark Taraschuk and Jaret Lalli had the assists on the goal. 

Less than five minutes later while on another man advantage, Schoonbaert found Heidemann in front and the rookie notched his 5th of the post-season and second in as many games to make it 5-1. Worrad added an assist to cap off a strong three-point night for the 20-year-old forward from Ontario.

As time was winding down in the period, Taraschuck banked a perfect pass off the boards to a streaking Easton Bennett who broke in a snapped a shot blocker side for his 3rd goal of the playoffs with only 1.7 seconds left on the clock.

Steinbach's lead hit 6-1 heading into the second-period break.

It was anything but a very entertaining third period, as far as the scoresheet would go.

The penalty sheet, however, that was a different story.

Virden continued to rack up the penalty minutes including two 10 minute misconducts, a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. 

Steinbach would add one more goal before the game was through. Tanner Mole snapped home his 4th of the playoff's off a nice pass from Brady Tatro gave the Pistons another power play goal and a 7-1 lead. Darby Gula also chipped in an assist on the final goal of the game.

The horn sounded and the Pistons walked away with a 3-2 series lead after a 7-1 win at home.

The power play finished 2 for 13 while the penalty kill was perfect going 4 for 4.

Thiessen was solid again finishing with 21 saves. 

For the first time in the series, the Pistons chased the Virden netminder Riley McVeigh after the second period and faced Dalton Dosch in the third. McVeigh gave up 5 goals on 27 shots while Dosch surrendered 1 on 15 shot attempts.

Steinbach will head off on the road Saturday night as they go looking for their second Turnbull Trophy in franchise history. The game in Virden is set to go at 7:30 pm.

Coaches Notes

If head coach Paul Dyck could, he'd bottle the first minute of this game and open it up whenever he could. Two goals in less than 60 seconds can really set the tone according to Dyck. "You can't script that, right?" Dyck said post-game. "We were looking for a good start. A good start doesn't always translate into two goals in the first minute, but we'll definitely take it. We had a lot of jump going into the game but that provided another spark for sure."

As happy as Dyck was with the offence, it was the game-saving save from Matthew Thiessen that left him wide-eyed from the bench. "It was incredible. He didn't have a huge body of work tonight, but that save right there, could be the turning point of the hockey game. If that goes in, it's 3-2 and we're on our heels. I'm not sure how we're going to respond from that point but I'm confident we are, but I don't think the rest of that period turns out the way it does."

After that huge save by Thiessen, the Pistons got another boost when Tyson McConnell scored. "It's just such a huge boost for the bench," Dyck said from the press box overlooking centre ice. "Everybody's smiling, waiting for his flyby. He got rewarded, just batted a puck towards the net after winning those greasy battles in front. That's what he likes to do."

Another positive takeaway was the number of battles won up and down the ice, something Dyck said was a topic of conversation early in this series. "We challenged the guys after game 1 when that wasn't the case. They've slowly made that commitment. They're all capable of winning those battles, that's a choice. How hard are we going to compete in those area's which aren't always fun cause you might get a cross-check or a whack or a punch in the head during those types of scrums. We were first on a lot of pucks and very determined in those areas of the ice. For us, that's vital. For us to play with a lot of pace, we have to win those battles."

One Win Away

The Steinbach Pistons have played 75 games to date between regular season and playoffs. Close to 80 if you include pre-season. After all the hard work that's gone into not only all the games but all the practices, it can be easy to get excited being only one win away but veteran defender Mark Taraschuk knows that this mature group isn't looking past the job at hand and that's coming out with a strong effort in game 6. 

"We talked about it after the first intermission, staying on ground zero," the Pistons leading point getter from the blueline said after the game. "You have to stay level-headed. You have to keep playing the same way that's got you that success. Virden's gonna have some pushback. They'll be in their home barn. I expect some Steinbach fans to make the trip, but Virden's gonna come back with some push and it'll be a different game Saturday."